James Ducker from The Telegraph has reported that Manchester United’s £35Million Dutch signing Donny van de Beek, has been hard at work during pre-season, with an unnamed dressing room source labelling the midfielder as “a man quietly on a mission” in his pursuit of first team football at Old Trafford this season.
The Dutchman provided a decidedly underwhelming debut season for The Red Devils, as though he played 36 games in all competitions, he was subbed onto the pitch 21 times, resulting in him only racking up 1,456 minutes of game-time, contributing 1 goal and 2 assists in those minutes.
Arriving as the perceived ‘marquee signing’ of the 20/21 summer transfer window for Manchester United, those minutes were concerningly low, and the few that were available for the now 24-year-old, seemed to further diminish as the season progressed.
This lack of game-time led to transfer rumours surrounding the player even by the January transfer window, a mere 4 months after he arrived at the club, with those rumours persisting into the beginning of the current summer transfer window.
However, as reported by James Ducker, Donny van de Beek seemingly has committed all of his attention and focus on the club. He has placed himself under a strict and intensive new training regime going into the 21/22 season which involves him building up his strength and conditioning via following this programme 4-5 days a week, on top of Manchester United training.
A major criticism of Donny van de Beek last season was his fitness, it wasn’t uncommon to see him in the matches he started appearing exhausted by the 60-65th minute and require a substitution. Therefore, to see him specifically target his strength and conditioning as a means to improve himself and stand a better chance of featuring for Manchester United in this upcoming season is an encouraging sign.
It should enable him to be a more dynamic midfielder, and allow himself to display his best attributes to a higher standard. Donny’s work-rate on the pitch can’t be questioned. It’s one of his leading attributes and is a huge part of his game. However, because he was pushing his body so much despite his body not being up to the task with his prior physical state, we saw that problem manifest in his lack of full 90’s when he started. This season he should be able to push himself that step further, hopefully for a full match, and display his elite off-ball movement with his plethora of runs, whilst combining that with his ability to track back and make a defensive impact, not having to pick and choose between one or the other.
According to reports from multiple journalists in the last month or so, Manchester United are supposedly transitioning towards a four-three-three as their ‘main formation’ (although will still employ other formations when tactically necessary). This shift in midfield positions available for Donny to play in could see him thrive. Previously he was shunted into a double pivot role in a four-two-three-one, which he can do, however, he is more so in the mould of a box-to-box midfielder in that duo, rather than a pure six, which Manchester United are lacking, hence van de Beek was burdened with a defensive load that he couldn’t handle.
However, in a four-three-three, the Dutchman will likely be utilised as an eight, playing as a rotation option for Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba. This would allow Solskjær to utilise the former Ajax midfielders off the ball movement, helping to create space for the glut of pacey runners the Manchester United forward line possesses, alongside allowing him to chip in and help defensively, without being greatly relied upon to be a defensive-minded player.
Overall, whilst Manchester United fans shouldn’t expect a world-class player to sprout up out of nowhere, the positive signs coming out of van de Beek’s training camp, alongside a potential shift in role within the Manchester United midfield, could see the Dutchman display a much-improved season for the club compared to last season.